Summertime and the livin' is...

After a long and yet very rewarding day of work at Friends of the Dunes 12th Annual Sand Sculpture Festival
I needed a day of R&R.

I spent the day at a friends property in Hoopa on Monday. I did summer things like weeding the garden, picking and eating cherries from the orchard, swimming in and napping next to the Trinity river and sharing stories with good friends over good food.

Most memorable part of the day? I discovered I like tuna fish sandwiches after all. Jeannine had made me one and not wanting to be rude I thanked her and took a bite. To my surprise I actually enjoyed it. Tuna wasn't even on the radar of foods I'm encouraging myself to like, but now I can take it off the very short dislikes list.

The red one....

A 5.1 tonight... not bad.

Just a bit of door rattling to go with a gentle sway of the house. I thought it was the church across the street at first. My roomy EvaEverAfter had just finished explaining how earlier she thought a man was screaming angrily at someone outside. When she opened a window to hear better she found it was only the preacher doing his job.

My day...

I started the day burning large piles of beachgrass at the Manila dunes this morning at 7am. Playing with fire is currently the best part of my job.

I ended the day back at the Manila dunes with my camera, some dark chocolate and a bit of wine to go with the sunset.

Life is good when you choose to return to your work site for leisure activities.

I give a hoot....

I made one stop on my way home from Chico today and came across this Barred Owl. It was sunning itself on the side of a back country road. Upon my arrival it flew into a nearby tree and we curiously watched each other for quite some time.

FACT:
Barred Owl populations have expanded westward in the last century. The more aggressive Barred Owl may displace the endangered Spotted Owl. Hybrids of the two species are also known.

Father's Day...

A super Father's Day. Out to breakfast and then a walk in the park that I thought of as my backyard playground growing up. Lots of butterflies, damselflies, beetles and acorn woodpeckers to keep me entertained and the best company to discover them with.

Eight Things About Me: A Meme

Sarah tagged me

The rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3.At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

OK, so here we go with eight things:

1. I'm addicted to weeding.
2. I don't have TV but I somehow was introduced to Grey's Anatomy and found I was unable to stop myself from watching every episode online. That was a tough one to admit.
3. My right armpit sweats more than my left.
4. I was seriously considering becoming a pastry chef but decided I didn't like the work hours.
5. You can't tell it by my blog but I love turtles.
6. I quit volleyball in high school because I didn't want to wear the butt-huggers.
7. I quit tennis my senior year cause I didn't want to wear a tennis skirt.
8. I now like to run because there is no fear of being forced to wear butt-huggers or skirts.

I don't like being tagged and thus the tag ends here.
Fuego was tagged too!

The Smith River...

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

-Norman Maclean

I gave in...

I've been avoiding Crocs for a long time now. Not only are they kind of ugly but they're completely made of plastic. Yuck! Then I thought about my shoes... Chacos > plastic/rubber. Boots > leather. Flip flops > synthetic foam stuff. All of my shoes are killing the earth so why not one more pair? Bad theory eh? But where are the eco-groovy shoes that actually last longer than a year and are comfortable? Do tell.



In the mean time I'm in love with my Crocs. As seen posing with wildflowers and the Smith River on my return home from Portland.

P-Town...

Once upon a time I lived in the city of Portland, Oregon for 1 crazy growing experience year. Last week I returned to attend a wetland mitigation workshop for Land Trusts. I was put up at the McMenamins Kennedy School. It really is an old school that now has a movie theatre, restauraunt and two pubs. I stayed in Ms. Kinney's room and had two walls of chalkboard to keep me entertained.